Idea - solar dehydrators - thoughts?

My name is Isaac Emmanuel, and I was invited to the group by Mathilde, who is a friend of mine and a former co-intern at Los Poblanos Organics. I have a possible idea to throw out and see if there is any interest.

I have been planning since last year to build a solar dehydrator for this season, hopefully finished by mid-May so it is ready when the fruit starts coming. I know that Mathilde is also interested in having one of these great devices. So, if others are also interested, my thought is that we could research and brainstorm, settle on an ideal design for our hot, dry New Mexico climate, figure out the right way to build it, and once all the plans are in place, come together and build more than one, several of them, one for whoever wants one. That way, we all put something into the project, and many (or all of us) also get something out of it, and it's efficient because (the idea is) the dehydrators should be pretty easy and quick to build if we standardize a design and then get the hang of making it.

So, that's the basic idea. If there is any interest there is more I can say, I have already done a lot of research into the topic, know most of the common designs, and have some ideas about what kind of design would be good for the desert climate. I also don't mean for this to compete with anyone else's ideas or projects, such as Mark's in the other post, but wanted to add it to the mix and see what everyone thought.

I'm sorry to say, I keep the Sabbath on Saturdays, so I'm not available to do anything that day (until the late evening, after 7 or so). I see that most of your meetings are generally on Saturday, so that might be a problem. Would it be possible to meet on Sundays or another day instead for this project?

Also, to Kelly, yes, window screens is similar to what we did last year, and it sure does work pretty well in our dry climate :). However, it would take a really long time to dry anything, and we would have to remember to take them in at night and especially when it rained. That's why I figured a dehydrator might be worth building, even in our easy-to-dry-food climate, if it could speed up and make more consistent the drying process, retain some of the day's heat, and shield the food from weather. It doesn't really need to create much more heat or keep the food from molding, so the design could probably be simple, but still very helpful. That was my thought process going into the decision to build one. Hope that makes sense.

Also I just emailed the whole group more talk about this, not realizing that I could just join the chain of replies. Sorry about that. Anyway, I just said, Yay! Lets meet to plan and to build together! Do you all think we need two meetings in this case? Also, I proposed I could drive a carpool to a different meet-location one day and/or open my house as a place to do the building in the UNM area, if not convenient at the Source? ...Are these things (fruit/food dehydrators) easily "mobile" after they're constructed? What dimensions are we thinking or is most common or best-for us? I've done no research. ...Last, how do I make a brand new post, not an email message to the whole group and not a reply like this?

I think two meetings is best, one to plan and one to build, as Mathilde said. All the details of when/where to build, dimensions, etc. can be decided at the planning meeting. I will bring all the research and ideas I have, if everyone else brings anything they know/researched/etc. that would be helpful.

So, the planning meeting: 4 PM this Wednesday, May 4? I guess you guys like this place, the Source, so that would work fine with me if it works for everyone else.

As for starting a new post, Mathilde, go to the main Permalove Collective Discussions page, where all of them are listed, and then click the "+ Add" button to the upper right. Hope that helps.

I'll "add" a new post about this invite for everyone when Sherry, of The Source, has confirmed with me or us that 4pm this Wednesday would work, (I already left a message for her about this, and she spoke with me at the Permalove Meeting AND (combined with) Bread and Jam, (as we think we can do it, from now on, when we meet via or at the Source, earlier this evening about the dehydrator events.) Otherwise, 4pm, at my house, same-ish neighborhood, would be fine and welcome. (My phone number is 818-3194.)

So, let other "Permalovees" know about the time and date, invite them, and plan on it!